Calgary issues $3,000 fines for water misuse as consumption spikes over long weekend

Water usage across Calgary spiked Monday, reaching 505 million litres after a three-day downward trend between Friday and Sunday. 

It comes as the City of Calgary continues to ask residents and businesses to use less water during repairs to the Bearspaw south feeder main, a critical piece of infrastructure that supplies the majority of Calgary's system. 

Despite that messaging, the city increased its threshold of how much water can be used by 35 million litres on Tuesday to 485 million litres — up from the previously set target of 450 million litres.

"At this rate, we are comfortably able to refill our underground storage tanks overnight and have a good supply on hand for the next day," Michael Thompson, the city's general manager of infrastructure, said during an update Tuesday.

The manager said they've made some adjustments to handle more water use.

"We weren't sure if it would be sustainable [but] we've tried it out for a little bit. We know that we can sustain it now," he said.

Thompson said the city can push its supply up to 500 million litres, but anything above that would be unsustainable.

Usage hit 492 million on Friday, 475 million litres on Saturday and 473 million litres on Sunday — all above the previous target maximum of 450 million litres but below the new threshold set by the city.

5 tickets issued

Since the beginning of the water restrictions, the city has received 755 complaints for inappropriate water use, including 521 for residential, 60 for multifamily residences and 107 for commercial or industrial.

The city said it initially used an education-first approach to deal with the reports, but it has since started handing out $3,000 fines.

Over the weekend, five tickets were issued for water misuse. The city did not specify whether those were for businesses or for residents.

"We have a very short period of time to complete these repairs, I know no one wants to be here," Thompson said.

"I can tell you we don't want to be here either. None of us are happy that we have to do these urgent repairs, but we know we have to complete these now before water flows into the Glenmore Reservoir dry up and before we have another catastrophic failure like we saw in June."

Calgary is under Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions, meaning that activities such as watering lawns with city water and washing outdoor surfaces are not permitted.

City officials are also continuing to urge residents and businesses to reduce their indoor water use by 25 per cent.

16th Avenue N.W. closed starting Thursday

The Bearspaw south water main, which carries roughly 60 per cent of the city's water supply, suffered a break on June 5. 

An inspection during initial repairs found 16 new spots that also needed to be fixed.

That work has continued around the clock, according to Francois Bouchart, and is on track to be finished by the original estimated date of Sept. 23.

He said repair work is underway on all 12 segments and excavation is now complete at 11 repair segments.

On Thursday, 16th Avenue N.W. will close between 46th Street and the Bowness Road interchange for repair work. Traffic will be diverted onto Bowness Road, which will be fully open in both directions.

"Our traffic plan will keep most business driveways open, allow for parking and provide clear direction to help customers find their way. Free short-term parking is available throughout the community," Bouchart said.

"We continue to work directly with those residents and businesses that are most impacted."

That construction requires the pipe to be turned off, impacting the ability to move water around normally and leading to pressure fluctuations that could cause additional water main breaks, the city's water services department told CBC News.

"This is typical for any water system and it happens for a short time until the system adjusts," reads the statement.

According to the city's water services department, it maintains nearly 15,000 kilometres of underground water infrastructure as part of its drinking water, wastewater and storm water systems. 

It added that between 200 and 300 water main repairs are done every year.

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, there were five emergency breaks between Aug. 26 and Sept. 3 noted on the city's website.

The city said water main breaks can be triggered by several factors:

• Pressure changes.
• Age, material and condition of the pipes.
• Condition of the soil.
• Temperature of the ground.

The city said dealing with repairs to breaking water mains is not impacting repair work on the Bearspaw south feeder main.